Robert Rodriguez: Lindsay Lohan 'Lights Up The Screen Anytime You Put The Camera On Her'

July 2, 2010 03:57 PM EDT

Despite reports that Lindsay Lohan is difficult to work with, director Robert Rodriguez told Access Hollywood that the 24-year-old actress was “fantastic” during their time together shooting “Machete.”

”[Lindsay] was fantastic. I really love working with her,” Robert told Access on Thursday at the junket for “Predators,” which he is producing. “You just hear so much about people and their personal life that you start forgetting that they have a business life and they actually are a talented actress. And she was just a joy to watch on screen, she lights up the screen anytime you put the camera on her.”

Robert also has worked with another young Hollywood star who has been a fixture in the headlines, albeit for much different reasons.

Robert told Access that he knew “Twilight Saga” heartthrob Taylor Lautner was destined to become a force in Hollywood when they worked together in 2005’s “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D.”

“I knew [Taylor] was a star the second he walked in and he was the first person to come audition for the role,” Robert recalled. “He just had a star quality to him.”

“Predators,” the next installment in the alien hunter franchise starring Adrien Brody and Topher Grace, hits theaters on July 9.

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